{"id":1118,"date":"2015-12-16T16:46:36","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T16:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sjcmetheology.wpengine.com\/?p=1118"},"modified":"2015-12-16T16:46:36","modified_gmt":"2015-12-16T16:46:36","slug":"the-gift-of-waiting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/the-gift-of-waiting\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gift of Waiting"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"advent3\"<\/a>Now, in this holy season of Advent, the time spent waiting and preparing grows shorter.\u00a0 But waiting is never easy.\u00a0 Ask any child or the child in any of us for that matter.\u00a0 Sometimes the waiting can make us desire the object of our waiting more and even sharpen our focus on that which is the object of our interest and affection.\u00a0 We all know the adage \u201cAbsence makes the heart grow fonder\u201d.\u00a0 That compulsive aspect of waiting can prompt some to try to distract their attention by shifting the focus to something else.\u00a0 Filling that emptiness with activity and distraction is likely something we\u2019ve all done.\u00a0 While that strategy may help pass the time, I\u2019m not so sure that it\u2019s the best use of our time and that gift.\u00a0 In terms of our spiritual journey, my personal opinion is that the time of waiting is a gift, a grace that should be embraced as an opportunity to experience the longing for God.\u00a0 The experience of that utter absence sets the stage for our ability to clear the space in our hearts and lives and know so deeply that that space was always meant for him to fill.\u00a0 Realizing that this longing for God was the greatest gift that God could give me prompted me to pen these words many years ago.\u00a0 I prayerfully return to them every Advent and I pass them on to you in the hope that they may resonate in your Advent prayer.<\/p>\n

When did His favor<\/em><\/p>\n

first come to rest upon her?<\/em><\/p>\n

She ponders beginnings-<\/em><\/p>\n

her memory cannot conjure the time,<\/em><\/p>\n

the moment,<\/em><\/p>\n

or extend her remembrance<\/em><\/p>\n

into His knowing,<\/em><\/p>\n

to that moment when His choosing<\/em><\/p>\n

first nurtured her innocence.<\/em><\/p>\n

She rests knowing<\/em><\/p>\n

her response was always<\/em><\/p>\n

His gift first-<\/em><\/p>\n

that He prepared her in secret<\/em><\/p>\n

and love her<\/em><\/p>\n

before her remembering-<\/em><\/p>\n

that His humility conceived<\/em><\/p>\n

her freedom.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This poem first appeared in Review for Religious (Nov.\/Dec.1988)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Susan O’Hara<\/strong> teaches theology for Saint Joseph’s College Online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now, in this holy season of Advent, the time spent waiting and preparing grows shorter.\u00a0 But waiting is never easy.\u00a0 Ask any child or the child in any of us for that matter.\u00a0 Sometimes the waiting can make us desire … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,1],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-1118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spirituality","category-uncategorized","tag-advent"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1118\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}